Ronnie Lott sounds off on repeated snubs of Charles Haley

Posted by Mike Florio on February 5, 2011, 8:51 PM EST

Former NFL defensive end Charles Haley owns five Super Bowl rings. But he still can’t get into Canton.

One of his former teammates, Hall of Fame safety Ronnie Lott, has chimed in regarding the omission of Haley from the 2010 class. Specifically, Lott addressed rumors that Haley’s treatment of the media and teammates has contributed to his exclusion from Canton.

“If that has anything to do with the bearing of the stature that has to do with his being associated with making this, what a travesty,” Lott said, according to Calvin Watkins of ESPNDallas.com. “How dare we judge someone because of who they are and not judge them for what they did and what they accomplished. We are not in the game of judging people for their character. We are in the game of judging people for their accomplishments and his accomplishments are second to none.”

He’s right — the only thing that’s supposed to matter are the things the player does on the field. But we all realize that other factors influence the human beings who make these decisions.

Jut goes to show (yet again) that media clowns are the last people on earth who should have a vote. It should be former players, coaches, and front office people (FOOTBALL PEOPLE) who get votes. What a freakin’ joke that a guy like Haley or a guy sitting at #5 on the all time rushing list get passed over for some film maker. Ridiculous. They don’t hire media idiots to evaluate personnel in the NFL so why should they be qualified to evaluate it with regard to the Hall?

They must base off on field actions somehow. Or the coke head irvin wouldn’t be in the hall.
Good thing aikman and double dummy (deuce) went to court with him, or there might have been a conviction (or not).

IF someones character is going to determine whether they belong in the pro football HOF … than the NFL should drop the hypocrisy & REMOVE OJ Simpsons bust from Canton, … until they do, these players should be judged by what they did on the football, not by whether they got along with the media

Haley was certifiable. I don’t know which is worse, teammates that have to tolerate (for whatever reason) Haley spanking to completion or the poor schmuck that has to answer to “…. grab the mop and bucket, Charles left a mess in there!”

I say the HOF should take character into account for the kid’s sake (role modeling) but it’s too late for that now.

You want to talk about snubs ? How about a guy who was the most feared defensive end in the NFL for a complete decade . Oh and by the way , just for good measure ,hes a four time Super Bowl champion . The name you ask ? L.C. Greenwood .

Those 5 Super Bowls had more to do with the other players on those teams (49ers and Cowboys) then Charles Haley. Kevin Greene should go in before Haley. I believe Kevin Greene is 3rd most career sacks trailing only Reggie White and Bruce Smith.

Cris Carter will eventually get in. The phrase people used in reference to Carter was “all he does is catch touchdowns”.

He caught 130 in his career. Terrell Owens has 153 and will probably get another 8-12 more this coming season (he had 9 in under 14 games last season with a coordinator who ended up fired) and might play another year after that.

Lott could be right. In hockey, the same delay happened to Dino Ccarelli who waited WAY too long before getting inducted because he was not media friendly. But even with his five super bowl rings, was he better than some of those who are getting in this year? Haley’s time will come, but he was ranked only #31 on the football list from http://www.notinhalloffame.com.

Ronnie Lott ……still cleaning up for Charles Haley. Charles was clinically sick (bi-polar and beyond). The year after Ronnie Lott went to the Raiders they beat the 49ers. Apparently Charles Haley went absolutely beserk in the 49er locker room afterwards and Ronnie Lott had to be brought into their locker room to talk him down. Ronnie was – and still is – a true friend.

I wouldnt believe ONE WORD that Jeff Pearlman writes in ANY of his books. This clown is mentally disturbed and does not write FACT, he writes facts that are made up in his little world and anyone who buys his garbage is a MORON just like jeffey or just really angry at the world like jeffey

I have a lot of respect for Ronnie Lott, but I have to disagree with him on this one. I’d enjoy doing it in person, actually, and wouldn’t fear for my safety. 🙂

I don’t think we can tell the world that, if they have a certain freakishly extreme gift, that means they can just ignore all boundaries of moral behavior. Is it a slippery slope? Probably. But so is leaving a convicted murderer in the Hall.

If guys like Pacman or Clarrett had actually lasted as long as Haley, and picked up five rings each, I’d still snub them. And Favre, for the interceptions. I’d make an exception for LT, for the same reasons Parcells did.

Let the consensus decide who stays and who goes, just like it does now. Retroactive snubbing. Then replace each of those guys with someone in the current logjam, because it’s only going to get worse.

“If that has anything to do with the bearing of the stature that has to do with his being associated with making this, what a travesty,” said Ronnie Lott regarding the link between repeated concussions and people being able to understand what the hell it is that you’re saying.

Who really cares but the ones trying to get in. The people doing the voting have turned the Hall of Fame into nothing but a joke. Some pot bellied slob that back in school could not get a date let alone be involved in sports. Sit around and play God with these guys lives.

It is like watching all the Award Shows the Hollywood or Music people keeps making for themselves, nobody cares but them or some pathetic jerk with no life. There are way to many in the Hall that should not be there and a truck load that should have been there long ago. Once that happened it went from Honor to JOKE.

The bottom line is that Charles Haley was sick. The dude is bi-polar. He’s gotten treatment, medication, and has turned his life around.

Lawrence Taylor admitted to doing coke during the games and is still out there boinking underage girls. If you want to diss someone over their behavior, let’s start with the guy who still hasn’t learned anything.

Another example of why writers shouldn’t be voting for this. It’s like me trying to tell players what type of jock strap is best.
Ask personnel guys and coaches players and they will tell you Haley belongs.
I am big on having high character guys on my team but the HOF SHOULD be only about what the guys did on the field.

Once I saw Haley didn’t make the cut, I lost all inetrest. Fact: most Super Bowl rings of ANY player. Fact: love him or hate him but he WAS the most dominant player on the field and when he didn’t get sacks or tackles, it was because they were concentrating hard on him and others were getting free because of that. As far as I was concerned, THIS HOF class started with Haley and only the other spots were open for debate. The fact that he didn’t make the cut makes me feel that they should take away the votes of everyone that didn’t vote him in because they’re morons with no idea of what football is about or they had an ax to grind with him. If they had a problem with his character then you might want to start throwing more than a few guys out because they weren’t any more saintly than him.

name a more dominant player than Haley that is eligible and not int he HOF. you cant. he was a top 3 most feared pass rusher almost his entire career. white, haley and LT are the 3 im talking about. Haley was also the determining factor between the 2 best teams in the decade.

leaving him out is a joke. hes better than a ton of players that are in.